Żywiec Ethnographic Park in Ślemień

The Żywiec Ethnographic Park in Ślemień is an open-air museum that recreates the layout and buildings of a village in the Żywiec Beskids. It was opened in August 2012, and in January 2013 an open-air museum was established and entrusted with managing the park. The museum's website calls it the youngest open-air museum in Poland and the third in the Silesian Voivodeship.

How the open-air museum came about

The park covers over 6 hectares by the road to Kocoń. It was created with European Union funds under the project Ethnographic Park of the Żywiec Land. In relocating the buildings the guiding principle was to move as much of the original historic material as possible.

What buildings you will see

17 historic structures, mostly wooden, have been moved to the park. Among them are a school from Rychwałd from 1900 with two rooms in which weaving was also once taught, and a 19th-century granary from Sucha Beskidzka.

The complete peasant farmstead from Rychwałd includes a house from 1895, a barn with a cart shed and a well, and in the barn stands a chaff cutter from a pre-war agricultural machinery factory in Żywiec-Zabłocie. There are also a forge from Ślemień from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and a cottage from Łękawica from 1911, furnished among other things with a holy corner, a dresser and a cradle.

The oldest building is the herbalist's cottage from Korbielów, erected before 1887, with one room and a clay floor. The cottage from Świnna has carved details in the Alpine-Tyrolean style, and among buildings of other types are a pharmacy from the early 20th century from Międzybrodzie Bialskie, a sawmill from Złatna with a water wheel and a villa from Skawa in the Zakopane style.

Interiors and small architecture

In the interiors the decor has been reconstructed and displays have been arranged showing the life of the Żywiec highlanders. The grounds also contain two half-buried cellars, three wells with different ways of drawing water, and wayside crosses and shrines, among them a stone one from Gilowice and a wooden one with a sculpture by Józef Hulka. The park has a shop with regional souvenirs and drinks.

Nearby

A few kilometres away stands Chatka pod Potrójną, a student mountain hut in the Little Beskids.

In the same area is the Madohora nature reserve.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Łączna 2a, Ślemień (Żywiec County).
• By the open-air museum there is a car park for cars and coaches of almost 1,100 m².
• Check opening hours and visiting rules on the museum's website before a visit.
• The museum plans further expansion of the open-air museum, including an orangery building by the villa from Skawa.